Big East search includes Pernetti

Star-Ledger File PhotoTim Pernetti, shown at the CSTV offices in 2006, is in the running to take over as Big East commissioner.

The Big East hopes to have a replacement chosen for retiring commissioner Michael Tranghese by the end of December at the latest and former Rutgers football player Tim Pernetti is among the candidates being considered for the job, according to several people familiar with the search.

The people requested anonymity because the search is ongoing.

Pernetti, the executive vice president for content at the CBS College Sports Network, was a reserve tight end for the Scarlet Knights from 1990-93. He also serves as the school's radio analyst for football games and brings a background in television -- one of the key requirements in the search for Tranghese's successor.

Former Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg (now executive vice president for the Big 10 Network), Central Florida athletic director Keith Tribble, the former CEO at the Orange Bowl, and University of Texas associate athletic director Christine Plonsky are among the non-Big East officials being considered in addition to Pernetti, the people said.

Senior associate Big East commissioner John Marinatto and associate commissioners Tom Odjakjian and Nick Carparelli Jr. are the candidates from within the conference who are being considered.

Tranghese, who will step down at the end of June, has been with the league since its formation in 1979 and was the conference's first full-time employee. He has been commissioner since 1990.

According to the people familiar with the search, the initial hope was to have a replacement identified by the end of next month. But the end of December has been determined to be more realistic.

University of Pittsburgh chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg, Georgetown president John J. DeGioia and Big East consultant Kevin O'Malley are overseeing the search.

Tranghese announced he was stepping down because, "I believe it is the right time to."

He was the driving force behind adding football -- the Big East began as a seven-team basketball league -- and then saved the football conference after the ACC raided Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech by adding South Florida, Cincinnati and Louisville, while also getting Connecticut to move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision level.